The Millennial Reign
Philip Edgecumbe Hughes
In Revelation 20:1ff. John describes a vision in which he saw certain events associated with a millennium or period of one thousand years. That this is a difficult passage is indicated by the great divergence of opinion concerning its interpretation. Yet despite the problems it presents, and although this is the only place in Scripture where this period of a thousand years is mentioned, it has frequently been treated as a key to the understanding of other prophetic passages, particularly in the Old Testament, or as a foundation on which elaborate eschatological superstructures have been built. The major division of opinion concerning the interpretation of the passage we have quoted is between those who maintain that the return of Christ will take place before the reign of a thousand years (the premillennial view) and those who hold that it will take place after the reign of a thousand years (the postmillennial view). Another perspective, which might also be classified as postmillennial but which is now commonly designated amillennial (inaccurately, because it does not dismiss the “thousand years” of Revelation 20 as nonexistent), is that of those who, understanding the number 1,000 to have a symbolical force, interpret the millennium as virtually synonymous with this present age between the two comings of Christ, or, more precisely, between the coronation of the ascended Saviour and his return in glory. This position we believe to be most in accord with the perspective of the New Testament, as we shall endeavor shortly to demonstrate.
(10 votes) - Added: 01Â 09Â 2007
